American Architect Jonathan Segal Wins Hampton Court with Maserati

It wasn’t quite the same as American racing entrepreneur Carroll Shelby going to Europe and winning Le Mans, but it was along the same lines.

American architect and car collector Jonathan Segal went to Europe with his gorgeous Maserati A6GCS/53 Frua Spider last weekend and won Best of Show at the Concours of Elegance Hampton Court Palace in Jolly Olde England. Hampton Court is one of the top concours in the world, and one of the seven from which the Best of the Best Award is chosen, so now his Maserati is eligible for that, as it should be.

Segal is not just a bundle of energy, but a bundle of energy with exceptional taste and the means to pursue his automotive dreams.

“I have to be doing a lot of things at once,” he told Architect Magazine. “I’m hyper, I guess.”

What’s the old prayer? For people with good taste to get money, and for people with money to get good taste? Segal has both. His personal car collection numbers somewhere around a dozen or so at any given time and includes, or has included cars that are fun to drive, fun to look at, or just seem cool.

In addition to global classics like the A6GCS/53 Frua Spider that won at Hampton Court, and other Segal-owned classics like a 1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Supergioiello and a 1956 Maserati A6G 2000 Allemano, he has or has had: a ’73 Porsche 911 RS, ’78 911 Turbo, a ’67 911 S, an ’05 Carrera GT, a 1959 Lincoln Continental, a ’63 Split Window Corvette, ’58 Mercedes 300SL, and a very clean-looking ’73 Ferrari Daytona.

His day job involves putting his architectural mark on the city of San Diego building by building, with a unique style of flat cement rectangles layered by pure glass, a style that stands out even among the soaring condos of Coronado Bay.

But he is also methodically doing the same with the world’s concours. He’s won several awards at Pebble Beach. Those include a Best in Class and the Nethercutt Award for the Most Elegant Closed Car for his 1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Supergioiello, the Strother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car in 2021 for his 1956 Maserati A6G Zagato Coupe, and this year’s Phil Hill Cup at Pebble Beach for his 1957 Maserati 200SI Fantuzzi Spyder.

He was at Hampton Court as early as 2017 when he and wife Wendy showed another beautiful Maserati, a 1956 A6G 2000 Gran Sport berlinetta by Frua—a car with which the Segals also won their class at Villa d’Est this year. And now, Hampton Court.

“Hampton Court, thank you for honoring our Maserati A6gcs Frua spider with Concours BEST OF SHOW,” Segal posted on his Instagram page, typing the award in all caps.

I met Segal at last year’s Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club car show in San Diego, the city where Segal lives and builds. He was showing a beautiful and very roadworthy TZ1. It was his favorite car to drive, he said, his ever-present cigar bobbing in the air as he spoke.

He was the only car collector I’ve ever met who had a PR guy, the latter who would try to reign in and focus his boss’s considerable energy and aim him in a productive direction. It was a difficult job.

Segal joins a handful of other Americans who have won concours on The Continent. Southern California’s Peter Mullin won the Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille three times, first with a 1937 Delahaye 135M with body by Figoni et Falaschi, and then with a 1935 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic and finally with a 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia.

Jon Shirley also won at Chantilly with a beautiful blue Alfa 8C 2900B, which he has driven tens of thousands of rally miles in between shows. And Kentucky car collector Kevin Cogan took top honors at the Concours d'Elegance Suisse with his uniquely beautiful 1953 Ferrari GT Europa with coachwork by Vignale.

There are still a few concours here and there around the globe, but as winter approaches it will soon be time to think ahead to 2024 and all the cool car shows we’ll get to see then. So, as they might say at Hampton Court, cheers for now…